Record filing means



Nov. 21, 1950 H. v. EMBLEN ET AL RECORD FILING MEANS Filed March 13,1945 INVENTOR.

WW m Patented Nov. 21,1950

PATENT OFF'lCE'l RECORD FILING. MEANS Herbert V. Emblen and MelvinD;Baker, San. Diego, Calif;

Ann cationMarch 1 1945, Serial No- 582,506

4rCl'aims.

Our invention relates to record filing means and the objects ofourinvention are:

Firstpto provide a novel record filing means of maximum capacity, eachfile folder supporting a large number of" individual record leaves andwith the file folders so designed andarranged that several of these filefolders may be bound together in a single volume.

Second; to provide a record filing means in which the individualrecordleaves are each partiallyexposed; thus makingthe indexing andalphabetical or numerical arrangement of the records simple andfacilitating reference thereto;

Third, to providesuch a devicewith many reference leaves each withconsiderable writing space, these leaves overlappingbut; arranged in thefile folders sothat they cannot become entangled with each other;

Fourth, to provide a folder for such a device which is complete initself" and requires no extra parts, such as dividing-leaves-,,toprevent the individual record leaves; from fouling each other; I Fifth,to providea record filing means in which the individual record leaves;may be, easily ree a d. ep a ed;

Sixth, to provide av Shiftable lock which may be combined with a slittedfile folder to prevent individual recordleavesin an incomplete column ofthe same from sliding along the slits in the file folder; and

Seventh, to provide a novel file folder of this classwhichrisvery'simple and practicable in construction, easy to use andrefer to, and generally efficient and durable in service.

With these and other objectsin view, as..will appear hereinafter, ourinvention .consist'sof'certain novel features of construction,combination and arrangement ofparts and portions as will behereinafterdescribed'in detail'and particularly set forth in the appended"claims,.r efere.nce being had to. the accompanying drawings and; to thecharacters. of reference thereon which. form", any

part of. thi applicationin which;

Figure l'isa plan view of anexpanded' file folder disenga ed from thebinding, sho-wing how the folder. is slitted andthelocationof-jthelinesalong which it is folded; Fig. '2 is an end elevational view of twosuch file folders as illustrated in Fig. l properly folded and mountedby means of flexible spacer binding to rigid binder strips, which areperforated to receive the binding posts of the folder cover, not shownin the drawings; Fig. 3 is a view in perspective, of a file folder partially folded, in complete columns of individual record leaves insertedin the two slitted panels of the folder and a shiftable lock inserted inthe slits of a panel preparatory to being pushed upwardly to hold therecord leaves above from slipping downwardly; Fig. 4 is a fragmentarydetail view'of an individual record leaf; and Fig. 5 is afragmentaryView of one end of a shiftable lock.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar or identical parts andportions throughout the several views:

The file folder I, individual record leaves 2, flexible spacer binding3, rigid binding strip 4 and shiftable lock 6 constitute the principalparts of our invention in its preferred form.

The file folder l is constructed from a rectangular sheet of materialwhich is folded as indicated at the four dash lines in Fig. 1 to formfive panels, the end panel la having rounded corners, the panels lb, l cand id of approximately equal width and'wider than the panel la, and thepanel le ofconsiderably smaller width. The panel lb is slitted alongfour lines at l f and lg and the panel lc is slitted as at in and ii,the said slits all being parallel to the said fold lines and all ofequal length extending throughout the major width dimension of thefolder.

If referencenow'be had to the Fig. 3,,it will be evident how the panelsare folded together to assume the form indicated in Fig. 2. Thefourpanels le, ld, lo and lb are each folded upwardly and to the left fromthe positions shown in Fig. I and the panel la is then folded upwardlyand to the right to enclose the other panels.

The individual record leaves 2 may be all uniform, rectangular inrshapeand of a width less than one-half the width of the panels lb and lo.These, record leaves. 2 have two parallel slits 2a at each side thereofto form tabs 2b and the leaves are spaced perforated along linescollinear with said'slits asat 2d, the distance between the tabs 2bbeing very slightly less than the distance beveen two adjacent slits inthe folder such as l f or Hz. The portion 2c of eachrec-ord leafbelowthe perforate lines 2d is preferably smaller in accordance with thewidth, of the tabs 2b, than the, portion above said perforate lines andwhen these record'leaves are inserted inlthe folder with the tabs 2bentered through. the said slits in the folder the upper portion of eachrecord leaf 2 is normally folded downwardly to cover the tab 2b and thelower portion 26 in the manner indicated in Fig. 3.

It will be noted that the spacing of the slits M will determine thespacing of the record leaves when secured in operative position in thefile folder I, and that the tabs 2b of juxtaposed record leaves abuteach other on the reverse side of the file folder panel as indicated at2b on the panel lb in Fig. 3.

We prefer to use two columns of record leaves on both the panels lb andI0 and the function of panel Id will now be evident since it is foldedbetween the panels lb and to to prevent contact and possibleentanglement of the tabs 2b.

The flexible spacer binding 3 secures the folder to the rigid bindingstrip 4, the spacer portion 3a comprisingly adhering portions of thebinding between the portion wrapped around the rigid binding strip 4 andthe two portions 3b secured to the folder at the contiguous edges ofpanels la and lb, all as indicated in Fig. 2. The rigid binding strip 4is coextensive with the hinged edge of the folder and being securedthereto as described serves as detachable securement means for bindingtwo or more folders into one volume within any suitable cover providedwith binding posts adapted to co-act with the binding post apertures 4aprovided in the rigid binding strip 4 as indicated in Fig. 2.

When a column of record leaves is incomplete the leaves may tend toshift and become unfastened from the folder unless provision is made toprevent this shifting and we have provided a shiftable lock 6 insertableat one end of an incomplete column of record cards. This lock 6 isillustrated in Figs. 3 and 5 and comprises a rectangularly shaped cardof any predetermined width and a length equal to a record leaf 2 and theshort parallel slits 6d at each end thereof provide center tabs 5b andlateral tab 60. The tabs 60 may he slipped into the slits in the folderas indicated at [h in Fig. 3 and the center tabs 6b allowed to remain onthe front side of the panel and then the lock may he slid along thepanel, in the case illustrated upwardly, until the tabs 2b of the lowestrecord leaf in the column are encountered, thus looking all the recordleaves in this incomplete column in place.

In use, the record leaves 2 are individually assembled in the folder Ieither before or after the folder is folded and placed with otherfolders with binding posts to enter the holes, the holes to in the rigidbinding strip secured to each folder as described. The spacing portion3a of the flexible binding allows the folder to lie flat when the volumeis opened. Each record leaf will usually be lined and as noted above theupper portion of the leaf 2 will normally cover the lower portion 26 sothat all indexing of the leaves should be done on the upper portion ofthe leaf after it is r folded downwardly. The files will be placed inthe provided folder all similarly disposed so that the front panel la ofeach file will be positioned to the rear of the preceding folder andthus provide a fiat even surface to contact the record leaves of thepanel lb of the preceding folder.

Though we have shown and described a particular construction,combination and arrangement of parts and portions, we do not wish to belimited to this particular construction, combination and arrangement butdesire to include in the scope of our invention the construction,combination and arrangement substantially as set. forth in the appendedclaims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a record file, a folder comprised of four main panels foldedtogether, the two inner panels having slits to accommodate record leaveshaving tabs insertable through said slits, one outer panel foldablebetween said inner panels and the other outer panel folded to cover saidrecord leaves on one side of the folder, and attachment means secured tothe folder at the fold line of this last mentioned panel whereby thefolder may be secured in a suitable containing cover.

2. In a record file of the class described, a folder comprising panelsfoldable the one on the other, parallel spaced slits in two of saidpanels, record leaves having laterally disposed tabs approximatelyintermediate the length of said leaves, and insertable through saidslits to hold the said leaves in spaced relation according to the widthof said tabs, the portion of each leaf above said tabs being greaterthan and normally folded down over the portion below said tabs.

3. In a record file, a folder comprised of four main panels foldedtogether, the two inner panels having slits to accommodate record leaveshaving tabs insertable through said slits, one outer panel foldablebetween said inner panels and the other outer panel folded to cover saidrecord leaves on one side of the folder, and a fifth small panelfolding'on said one outer panel and acting as a spacer between said oneouter panel and one of said inner panels.

4. In a record file of the class described, a folder comprising panelsfoldable the one on the other,

parallel spaced slits in two of said panels, record leaves havinglaterally disposed tabs ap proximately intermediate the length of saidleaves, and insertable through said slits to hold the said leaves inspaced relation according to the width of said tabs, th portion of eachleaf above said tabs being greater than and normally folded down overthe portion below said tabs, the said leaves being perforated alonglines collinear with the edges of said tabs.

' HERBERT V. EMBLEN.

MELVIN D. BAKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 868,458 Lentz Oct. 15, 1907897,679 Thompson Sept. 1, 1908 1,08%,205 Foster June 13, 1914 1,550,211Euwer Aug. 18, 1925 1,574,523 Van Houten Feb. 23, 1926 1,661,519Wigginton Mar. 6, 1928 1,759,079 Wolf et a1. May 20, 1930 1,923,366Garfield Aug. 22, 1933 2,122,956 Salley July 5, 1938 2,247,122 France etal. June 24, 1941 2,306,324 Stark Dec. 22, 1942 2,329,007 Simon et a1.Sept. 7, 1943 2,373,179 Emblen et a1. Apr. 10. 1945

